I found this piece by Vic Carucci in The Buffalo News interesting. Pro Football Hall of Fame member Bill Polian, who was a main piece to Buffalo's four straight Super Bowl appearances in the 1990s, might be rejoining the organization in a consulting role.
Anyway, these comments he had about Coach Rex Ryan's defense ring home, because Brian VanGorder worked for Ryan with the Jets in 2013, and some people have noted that he's a disciple of Ryan's exotic schemes. However, here is what Polian said about it, and this rings home to some opinions about the Irish defense (with Jimmy Leonhard being to the Jets what Joe Schmidt is to the Irish). Here's an excerpt:
And what of the many problems with players struggling to learn or flat-out rejecting Ryan’s defensive scheme?
His answer will no doubt be music to the ears of Mario Williams, Jerry Hughes, Marcell Dareus, Preston Brown, and other players who have openly questioned the defense’s fit for those who have to play it.
“You need veterans to make that defense work,” Polian said. “First of all, the players thrived in another system – in a simple, straight forward, very easy to understand, very easy to communicate system where there was constant repetition of the same thing, over and over again, taught in a very straight-forward way. And the techniques were geared toward what the players could do, what their skill sets were, and the plans were constructed around the players and what they could do.
“Rex’s defense is just the opposite. It is not straight forward. It’s exceedingly complex. There is no carry over learning from one week to the next. There’s exceedingly complex language. There are exceedingly complex checks that have to be made at the line of scrimmage. There is a guy designated to make those checks. It was” linebacker “Ray Lewis in Baltimore and it was” safety “Jimmy Leonhard with the Jets, who literally could not put one foot in front of the other at the end of his career.
“I remember asking one of the Jets’ coaches during the offseason, ‘How in God’s name can you put Jimmy Leonhard on the field?’ He said, ‘No one else can translate the defense, no one else can get everybody lined up.’”
Anyway, these comments he had about Coach Rex Ryan's defense ring home, because Brian VanGorder worked for Ryan with the Jets in 2013, and some people have noted that he's a disciple of Ryan's exotic schemes. However, here is what Polian said about it, and this rings home to some opinions about the Irish defense (with Jimmy Leonhard being to the Jets what Joe Schmidt is to the Irish). Here's an excerpt:
And what of the many problems with players struggling to learn or flat-out rejecting Ryan’s defensive scheme?
His answer will no doubt be music to the ears of Mario Williams, Jerry Hughes, Marcell Dareus, Preston Brown, and other players who have openly questioned the defense’s fit for those who have to play it.
“You need veterans to make that defense work,” Polian said. “First of all, the players thrived in another system – in a simple, straight forward, very easy to understand, very easy to communicate system where there was constant repetition of the same thing, over and over again, taught in a very straight-forward way. And the techniques were geared toward what the players could do, what their skill sets were, and the plans were constructed around the players and what they could do.
“Rex’s defense is just the opposite. It is not straight forward. It’s exceedingly complex. There is no carry over learning from one week to the next. There’s exceedingly complex language. There are exceedingly complex checks that have to be made at the line of scrimmage. There is a guy designated to make those checks. It was” linebacker “Ray Lewis in Baltimore and it was” safety “Jimmy Leonhard with the Jets, who literally could not put one foot in front of the other at the end of his career.
“I remember asking one of the Jets’ coaches during the offseason, ‘How in God’s name can you put Jimmy Leonhard on the field?’ He said, ‘No one else can translate the defense, no one else can get everybody lined up.’”
